meet your guides

At the Sunken Shala, our teachers are more than instructors - we are long time practitioners, curious students, and space holders. Our team brings a deeply personal approach to every practice weaving together the threads that make up the very tapestry of our peaceful sanctuary. We are here to walk alongside you, offering thoughtful sequencing, encourage intuitive practices, and invite you to deepen your awareness of the connection to the mind, body, breath and soul.

Alexa

A smiling woman with dark hair in a striped long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans standing among lush green foliage and trees in a forest or jungle setting, holding a smartphone in her right hand. 
Guiding Mindful Slow Flow

Alexa completed her YTT 200 in Spring of 2025 and steps onto the mat as a first-year teacher at the Shala with radiant enthusiasm to begin guiding and deepening her own practice. Her approach and invitation on the mat are open, curious and deeply attuned to the natural world.

Alexa has a deep love for or herbalism and plant medicine. Her work with plants has shaped the way she thinks about wellness with curiosity, intention and an appreciation for the seasons and cycles we move through. She brings that same approach into her classes, creating space to explore, breathe, move and simply meet yourself where you are.

Outside of the studio you can find Alexa near the water, spending time outside learning about plants, or cooking a homemade meal. She is grateful to share this practice with this community and looks forward to meeting you on the mat.

Emily

A young woman smiling outdoors in a snowy, mountainous landscape, wearing a pink beanie and a gray fleece jacket. 
Guiding Soul Vinyasa Flow

Emily brings a deep, personal reverence to her classes, rooted in over 15 years of practice. After completing her YTT 200 in the spring of 2025, she has mindfully stepped into the role of a guide, finding immense joy in sharing the practice that has supported her for so long.

Her teaching is grounded, approachable and inspired by her connection to the earth. When she isn’t holding space in the Shala, you can usually find Emily soaking up the outdoors - hiking, backpacking, getting her hands in the dirt of her garden or cooking a nourishing meal. She is so excited to welcome you into this space and grow alongside our beautiful new community.

Hope

A smiling woman with tattoos, wearing glasses, a patterned headscarf, a black sleeveless shirt, and dark pants, sitting on a rock in a shallow creek with a yellow hillside and green bushes in the background. 
Guiding Grounded Hatha Flow and Sunken Stillness Yin Yoga

Hope steps onto the mat with an energy that is both deeply grounding and vibrantly alive. A dedicated lover of movement, her personal practice currently centers on hot yoga - a space where she finds focus, challenge, and sweat drenched presence.

Her deep connection to the natural world shapes every aspect of her life. Beyond the Shala, Hope works as a landscaper and is the founder of Sprouts of Hope, a venture that fresh starts are always rooted in care. Proud to represent women in STEM, she brings thoughtful intentional approach to everything she nurtures whether its outdoor landscapes, her business, or the students in her class.

Hope completed her YTT 200 in 2021 in Portugal and taught yoga internationally across Europe. She brings that same adventurous, open-hearted spirit to the studio. When she isn’t working or teaching, you’ll find Hope out on the trails backpacking with her favorite companion, her dog Nora.

JAne

A smiling woman with tattoos on her arms sitting at an outdoor restaurant table during sunset. The table has empty plates and utensils. In the background, there are other diners and a green outdoor setting. 
Guiding Sanctuary Breathwork & Meditation

Jane has been practicing yoga for 19 years, finding her home on the mat through styles like Hatha, Iyengar, and Bhakti. Her journey has taken her from the mountains of Sante Fe to the Sacred Valley in Peru, to the coastal beauty of Oaxaca, Mexico.

After years as a student, Jane earned her YTT 200 in Vinyasa-based yoga at Nexus Institute of Yoga and Wellness in Nosara, Costa Rica and is delighted to share the practice that keeps her so grounded and fortified.

Jane believes in the tri-fold value of yoga - its ability to strengthen the mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of the human being. Inspired by yogic philosophies s such as Witness Consciousness and Kosha Energy Bodies, Jane loves to offer a state of curious and humorous self reflection to each student who joins her on the mat: “What does my body need today? My mind? My spirit? Where can I soften? Where can I grow?” Her goal is to empower each student with a bit more lightness, clarity and a deeper sense of connection to self and to others.

Jaime

A woman with short blond hair smiling at the camera, holding a small white dog on a beach with a large rocky hill and a marina in the background. 
Guiding Sacred Gentle Yoga, Sanctuary Breathwork & Meditation, Sunken Stillness Yin Yoga, Embodied Reflection Flow

Jaime’s journey to the mat and opening The Sunken Shala is one of resilience, nourishment, and deep transformation. Introduced to yoga 17 years ago by her providers during a deeply personal battle with Anorexia Nervosa. She was instantly captured by the power of pranayama (breathwork) and the yogic practice of santosha (contentment). Yoga has become her grounding sanctuary and a place of healing that would prove vital through life’s most defining shifts and her recovery.

After undergoing a spinal fusion and spinal reconstruction Jaime’s movement took on a whole new depth. She completed her initial YTT 200 in 2024 followed by a second YTT 200 in 2025. These experiences deeply shaped both her practice and her perspective of life with an “upgraded” spine.

Jaime brings an intentional anatomical awareness and physical insight to her teaching and in her classes she creates a nurturing and compassionate space for everybody. She gently invites you to embrace mindful, modified movement, deep, soul-centered breath and healing. When she isn’t you’ll find her with her pups Henry & Higgins and listening to live music with her partner of 25 years.

Julie

Portrait of a smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a black turtleneck, standing outdoors with mountains and cloudy sky in the background. 
Guiding Shala Myofascial Release

Julie brings a rich depth of passion and experience to the mat guiding students through the intentional practices in Hatha, Power, Restorative, and Yin Yoga. Blending strength, stillness and soul, her teaching invites you to move mindfully, breathe deeply and reconnect with yourself.

As a proud graduate of both Boise State University and Gonzaga University, Julie’s grounded approach is shaped by years of study, a lifelong commitment to wellness and the practical wisdom gained from balancing a vibrant family and professional life.

She is dedicated to fostering intentional communities built on empowerment, connection and holistic well-being- ensuring that whether you’re flowing through a dynamic sequence or sinking into quiet stillness, you feel supported and met where you are.

Off the mat, Julie’s heart stays centered around her family. She is a devoted wife to her husband Larry, and a proud mom to three incredible kids. Her home (and life) are made all the sweeter by Yogi and Booberry the family’s two playfully beloved dogs.

Kathyrn

A young woman with long blonde hair smiling outdoors, standing on rocky ground with a scenic view of a lake and mountains in the background under a clear blue sky. 
Guiding Soul Vinyasa Flow

For Kathryn, yoga has been a lifelong sanctuary, transitioning naturally from a dedicated personal practice into two and a half years of guiding others on the mat. In sweet full circle moment, she completed her YTT 200 alongside Jaime in 2024 - a shared connection that makes being part of this new Shala community all the more special.

Kathryn teaches intuitive Vinyasa and feel good flows, creating movement that invites you to drop into your body, shake off stress and simply feel good. Her classes are an open invitation to explore movement with playfulness, ease, and steady breath.

When she isn’t in the studio, Kathryn is usually immersed in the beauty of the Idaho wilderness - whether she’s out hiking, backpacking, capturing moments through film and photography, or tending to her garden. At the end of the day, her favorite place to be is at home, relaxing and cuddling with her sweet cat, Benjii.

Katie

A woman with light skin and dark hair styled back, smiling, wearing black earrings and a black top, lying on her back in a dark room with a white light source above her head, and an oval object resembling a moon or ball in the foreground. 
Guiding Somatic Wall & Restorative Yoga

With over 25 years spent exploring movement as both an art and a path to well-being, Katie’s practice spans Yin, Restorative, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Kaiut Yoga, and Yamuna Body Rolling. A professional dancer and choreographer, her career includes performing with the Los Angeles Opera and serving as an original teaching artist for Everybody Dance!, a nationally recognized foundation honored by First Lady Michelle Obama.

As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Co-founder and Director of Clinical Training for the national nonprofit Eating Disorder Provider Education Network (EDPEN), Katie has long integrated yoga into her work supporting individuals through eating disorder recovery and mental health healing - using mindful movement to regulate the nervous system, cultivate self- compassion, and rebuild body trust.

Whether teaching yoga or dance, Katie believes movement is an invitation to reconnect with our innate wisdom. Her wall support classes emphasize curiosity over performance, cultivating strength, ease and presence while honoring the unique story each body carries. For Katie, the beauty of movement lies in feeling one’s own essence: “By feeling our own true nature, we are uplifted to this cathedral of ourselves… feeling connected to all that surrounds us and becoming fearlessly free.”

Grace

 
Guiding Soul Vinyasa Flow, Form & Foundation

Grace is a 200 hr RYT, and she has been practicing yoga on and off since high school. It wasn’t until 2022 that yoga started to become a mainstay in her lifestyle. She began mostly to improve her flexibility in hopes to support her interest and growth in another hobby of hers (a “flow art” involving dancing with a hula hoop).

As her knowledge of yoga grew, her love and passion for flow-states grew as well, learning more and more with every session how structure and flow coexist and intertwine. With that in mind, Grace signed up for structured yoga teacher training in early 2025 and actually began teaching a class later that same year. She taught for several months until her journey was put on pause in early 2026 for an injury; she tore her ACL skiing. As the recovery process ensued, she looked at it with rose colored glasses and chose to see this time as a new opportunity to get in touch with her body as it relearns itself and learns how things have changed. In her class,

Grace wants her students to feel deeply into the musculature of their body, feel the creativity of their own movement, and invite people to be curious about the spaces within, to surrender, to play.

Kierra

A woman standing in a field of tall grass with a dramatic sky filled with large, yellow-orange clouds overhead, smiling. 
Guiding Sanctuary Breathwork & Meditation, Rhythmic Body Poetry

For Kierra, yoga and meditation are invitations to discover who we are, again and again. With 15 years of yoga practice and a dedicated meditation path shaped by intensive coaching, she relies on these practices to cultivate peace, approach life’s joys and challenges with authentic perspective, and nurture the body through deep relaxation.

As a lifelong dancer, Kierra is naturally drawn to the beauty of Vinyasa flow, blending breath and movement into a powerful moving meditation. Her classes weave creative, intuitive sequences with plenty of space for each student to explore their own unique expression.

As she finishes her YTT 200, Kierra is so excited to join the community at the Shala, and is guiding stillness through mediation currently as she prepares to guide more mindful movement on the mat very soon.

Jessica

 
Guiding Deep Unwind Yin & Reiki, Soul Vinyasa Flow

Jessica has a deep love for life and the experiences that make us feel fully alive. Movement, meaningful connection, adventure, laughter, and the freedom to be ourselves.

After 25 years working with children and families, Jessica followed a calling to create sacred spaces where women can come home to their bodies, reclaim their power, and embrace their authentic selves.

A yoga teacher, SoulFlow™ Master Practitioner, and Reiki practitioner for nearly a decade, Jessica brings warmth, intuition, and heart to her classes. She invites you to move with curiosity, listen to your body, and discover the beauty of slowing down.

Her hope is that you leave feeling grounded, connected, and a little more free to be yourself.